> Have these benifits even been confirmed through unbiased scientific studies?
Good question. The problem there is that setting up a study of this is rife with problems. E.g. ensuring you're comparing "like for like" developers is hard enough. I have no problems believing that companies like Pivotal that are known to do it get good results from it, for example, because by announcing it they're self-selecting for developers who at least believe they do better in pairs. That may well even be a decent strategy to prevent dead-weights from applying, and so I could also very well see them doing better than a company with poor screening and performance management.
> The problem is that in the tech biz people tend to follow blindly without thinking. There was a point there where just because Pivotal Labs had some success pairing full time, everyone followed blindly. It’s the same with leetcode style interviews, open offices and ping pong tables - it worked for google and all of the sudden everyone is following blindly.
Cargo-culting in other words...
> But personally, I wouldn’t work somewhere which paired heavily even if the benefits could be proved. I simply won’t do it because I don’t enjoy it!
Same here. I'm fine with others doing it, including on teams I run, but other than sessions to teach or communicate a design I'm unwilling to be forced into it.
Good question. The problem there is that setting up a study of this is rife with problems. E.g. ensuring you're comparing "like for like" developers is hard enough. I have no problems believing that companies like Pivotal that are known to do it get good results from it, for example, because by announcing it they're self-selecting for developers who at least believe they do better in pairs. That may well even be a decent strategy to prevent dead-weights from applying, and so I could also very well see them doing better than a company with poor screening and performance management.
> The problem is that in the tech biz people tend to follow blindly without thinking. There was a point there where just because Pivotal Labs had some success pairing full time, everyone followed blindly. It’s the same with leetcode style interviews, open offices and ping pong tables - it worked for google and all of the sudden everyone is following blindly.
Cargo-culting in other words...
> But personally, I wouldn’t work somewhere which paired heavily even if the benefits could be proved. I simply won’t do it because I don’t enjoy it!
Same here. I'm fine with others doing it, including on teams I run, but other than sessions to teach or communicate a design I'm unwilling to be forced into it.